Market Report – April 2018 ComicLink Focused Auction

Hi all, let’s look at results from CLink's 6th April 2018 Focused Auction! This was a voluminous auction, with over 750 items offered. The vast majority of these were lower-value pieces, thus providing buyers with an abundance of original artwork in the low-hundreds price bracket. There were fine deals to be had, with many items finishing at or below the lower-end of expected FMV range, likely due to the overwhelming amount of material bidders had to process!

Butler is probably best known for his run on Web of Spider-Man in the mid-’90s, and fans of that era are beginning to prize his work more. $1.6k feels fair for a cover from a 3rd-tier Marvel title that’s nearing a quarter-century old. Plus, I quite dig Steven’s renditions of the Sandman in these stories!

I’m also a fan of Camuncoli’s depictions of ’ol web-head, and followed this auction with interest. Given that Giuseppe’s Superior Spider-Man #5 cover sold for $1.2k in January 2018 on eBay, $550 for this full-page battle splash seems like a strong price. It’s well-justified however, in view of the *ahem* superior craftsmanship on display.

Arkham Manor #5 (2015), pages 12 & 13 DPS by Shawn Crystal – $306

Arkham Manor #6 (2015), page 20 by Shawn Crystal – $160

If you enjoy Sean Murphy’s Batman: White Knight art but can’t stomach the exorbitant prices for OA from that series, let me introduce you to the work of another “Shawn”. Crystal’s Batman is mildly reminiscent of Murphy’s, yet no less striking or distinct – all at a tiny fraction of White Knight prices! In fact, these seem ridiculously cheap for a double-page and two-thirds splash of rather striking Bats-art.

B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame #1 (2005), page 11 by Guy Davis – $259

B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess #5 (2009), page 1 by Guy Davis – $235

To fans of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy universe, Davis is a familiar name, having drawn many of that canon’s mini-series. Guy’s art has its own unique voice (unlike some other Mignola-clones), and his Hellboy-related original artwork costs infinitely less than Mike’s stuff to boot!

Eaton is a comics industry workhorse, having consistently produced attractive, detailed art for nearly three decades. He’s likely drawn just about any DC or Marvel character you can name, and his OA is both extremely inexpensive and fantastic value for money.

Case in point: behold that full-page Captain America splash featuring a sultry Diamondback and (decidedly less attractive) Red Skull for a mere $232; and the absurdly cheap $170 Arkham War splash packed with all manner of Bat-villains!

Leonardi’s Spider-Man 2099 has a dedicated fan-base, and values of the artwork reflect that. Rick’s OA from the cult-title Sleepwalker may be starting to follow in its footsteps, with decent action pages like this one netting a solid (but still affordable) $250.

Infinity Crusade #5 (1993), page 7 by Ron Lim & Al Milgrom – $700

And now it’s time for your regularly-scheduled Marvel Cosmic update! There aren’t any Thanos/Cosmic Beings scenes, but this page does contain some stellar action sequences with a refreshingly hard-edged (and brainwashed) Captain America. Two years ago, it would have cost around $200. However going by recent sales, it looks like Infinity Crusade artwork has jumped to the price point that Infinity War OA used to occupy, before that leapt in response to the Infinity Gauntlet explosion.

Superman poster preliminary sketch by Alex Ross – $1,600

$1.6k might seem expensive for a relatively small (image area 8”x9”) preliminary pencil drawing, but I think it just goes to show the collector demand for renditions (of any sort) by modern master Ross of the character he’s arguably most renown for.

Spectacular Spider-Man #251 (1997), cover by Luke Ross – $2,650

This cover from the long-running Spectacular Spider-Man, with a dramatic shot of Kraven once again holding the upper hand over our hero, initially caught my attention due to its slightly cartoony look and high price. I thought it was from a children’s title or foreign spinoff, and was surprised it fetched $2.7k!

However, it’s actually from a mainstream title, whose covers only a few years older than this one go for $6k and up. Granted, those are by industry luminary Sal Buscema, and Luke Ross isn’t quite on the same level in terms of desirability. Nonetheless, I think this SSM #251 cover sold for a reasonable sum, all things considered.

Also known as Marvel Graphic Novel #17, Revenge of the Living Monolith contains some of superstar Silvestri’s earliest superhero work. Marc was still developing his signature style at that time, but you can already see hints of it in the pages above. In particular, panel 3 of page 32 features Silvestri’s distinctive female face – consisting of delicate eyelashes, pert nose and full lips – that came to be his (and disciples such as David Finch’s) hallmark.

Several other pages from this issue have sold for similar prices in recent CLink Focused Auctions. Given Marc’s contributions to the medium and corresponding significance of this comic book, these sales continue the trend of undervalued Silvestri OA, which canny art collectors should take advantage of!

Luke Ross was highly underrated; a really solid Spider-Man artist who elevated Spectacular, with DeMatteis’ writing, to the best of the four books in the 1997 period. He would’ve done great on Superman, a cross somewhere between Jose Garcia Lopez and Mike Deodato.

Great article. I think that Alex Ross piece went for crazy money. The price spikes when he gets paired with Superman, though, not just any subject. The America’s Best Comics Special #1 cover he painted (with every single Alan Moore character) went for only 5k on Clink a couple of years ago – but it’s not Superman, I guess.